Balloon Boy Was All a ‘Hoax'; Sheriff Cites Wolf Blitzer, Criticized by Media for Not Playing Straight

Fast moving developments in the Balloon Boy saga. The Heene family made it all up with the hopes the stunt would further their reality show fortunes, says Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden. Instead, Mayumi and Richard Heene are now facing criminal charges ranging from filing a false police report, to conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

It wasn’t until the Larry King show, where the family was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer, that we had the first a-ha moment, if you would. You all know what I’m talking about, when he was asked, “why didn’t you come down,” and he said, I believe, Mia (ph) said we did it for the show. If you look at the nonverbal responses as well as some of the verbal cues, not only from him but from the family, from the children, the reaction, it became very clear to us at that point that they were lying. You know, you picked up on it. We picked up on it.

By Sunday afternoon, the media had turned their gaze on the Sheriff, criticizing him for not playing straight, “and in a court of law, that is going to be a problem for the prosecutors in trying to prove their case,” concludes Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett, who also has a law degree:

After the jump, the AP video clip of today’s news conference from Sheriff Alderden…